Describe a time that you and your friend had a disagreement.

[You will have to talk about the topic for one to two minutes. You have one minute to think about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.]

Model Answer 1:

When I was a teen of 17 years old, I used to make friends more due to my extrovert nature. But unfortunately, I also had the most misunderstanding with them. However, I have not lost any of my friends for the disagreements.

Once I bought few novels to read in my leisure hours during the summer vacation of the college. During the vacation, one evening two of my college friends reached my home. After having some chats, one of them started looking at my library that I have built since my childhood (I love reading books from my early age and has a huge collection of different types of books). He picked one of the books that I just have started reading since the morning that day.

It was Thomas, my bosom friend at the college. I helped him greatly in mathematics and physics on the exam before the college closure on the summer. The disagreement began with him when he wanted to take the novel at his home for reading. The novel named - An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser was his first choice.

I tried to make him realise that I had started reading the novel before they arrive at my home and has already read a substantial portion of the book. But he was determined to take the book. Thus the disagreement continued. Samuel, the other friend of us sat motionlessly and observed us exchanging words with each other.

The argument continued for about 15 minutes, and I tried him to persuade in taking some other books but he was determined. He did not change his mind and said that once he started reading the novel but could not finish the book for some reasons. Now he does not want to miss the chance to complete the book.

I had completed reading one-fourth of the book and as a quick reader, I proposed him to take the book on the very next day. But he was unchanged in his attitude. He blackmailed me emotionally saying that if I do not allow him to take the book, then he should not consider me as his friend.

Finally, I had to give up on his stubbornness and let him take the book on one condition that he should return the book just after he finishes reading and also will not lend someone else (he had lost most of his books by lending others for his extraordinary generosity) as he did earlier with my books.

Alternative Answer 2:
Last year during the summer I had a big disagreement with one of my closest friends about a trip we were planning to go to. It was just after the final term exam in our university when one of our friends proposed to plan for a trip. We planned to visit a foreign country and have the tour for about two weeks. The disagreement occurred with Jonathon when he proposed to visit Mexico while I preferred travelling to England.

Jonathon might have reasons to visit Mexico but I preferred to visit a place far away from our home country and enjoy the tranquillity and rich heritage of England. I argued that majority of other friends have agreed to visit England and the sudden change of the plan would deter many of them to actually join us. I also tried to convince him that Mexico would be a too exotic a place for us and less interesting for the trip. He seemed quite determined to go to Mexico and completely adamant to listen to my reasons. After an hour’s argument, frustration and disagreement I told him that I would in no way tour to Mexico. My friend insisted me that we should have an unusual tour and unfamiliar experience from this tour. I admitted that his opinion was reasonable but we should value other friends’ opinion before fighting each other. When he kept on arguing, I became angry and more frustrated and left his house that day.

After returning home I felt a bit ashamed to quarrel over such a silly issue with my friend when I could have easily fixed that in a much calmer way. I texted him at night and asked him to meet me next evening. I also informed other friends who were willing to take part in the tour and we had a much friendlier discussion at that time. One of the friends proposed that we take the tour in Australia where he has his relatives and friends. He also proposed that we should talk to our parents about our destination and should not fix that until our parents give their opinions and consent.

This friend was Pollock and his idea and explanation were something we could not refute. Thus the disagreement ended and we finally had our tour in Australia!

If you can talk about the cue card topic "Describe a time that you and your friend had a disagreement." you should be able to talk about the following IELTS cue cards as well: